The dignity of illegal immigrants must be respected

No one questions South Africa’s right to exercise its discretion in deciding who should and should not enter and stay on its territory, for how long or under what conditions.

It is a non-negotiable sovereign prerogative, something that is applicable to all states. But there must be a distinction between the inalienable right to sovereignty and the way in which that sovereignty is exercised in terms of the relationship with foreign citizens and the respect that is expected of it regarding the basic principles of human dignity and the preservation of life itself.

As much as South Africa is uncomfortable with the presence of citizens of other African countries within its borders, it has an obligation to send them out in conditions of dignity, which also respect their right to life. South African laws require it, and nothing more nothing less can be expected from its government.

The events of recent months in that country, characterised by acts of violence against African citizens who have been driven away, in some cases after having been stripped off their property or even killed, have set a dangerous precedent, with consequences that not even South Africa itself can contemplate.

There is a sense of anger throughout Africa because of the hateful and savage way in which many Africans are being treated, calling into question the entire ideological structure of solidarity and cooperation on the continent. As we have already stated, not because South Africa is exercising the right to control its borders, but because of the way this is being done.

For example, in trying to solve the problem of the presence of foreigners in its country, South Africa needs to respect the fact that citizens of non-contiguous countries are involved, and that their expulsion under inhumane conditions means the transfer of a burden to third countries. This is the case of Malawian citizens, who need to cross Mozambique or Zimbabwe.  

There have been efforts by the South African government to distance itself from these actions, but the cover does not last when some of its members are captured by the press making inflammatory statements, such as associating citizens of specific countries with drug trafficking or informal trade.

If South Africa has an immigration problem, it needs to confront it in all its dimensions, including from the point of view of its legislation and corruption in its migration control institutions, which is one of the main causes for the presence in the country of people without the proper requirements.

In fact, the proceedings currently underway as part of the Madlanga Commission offer a dimension of the depth of the problems of corruption at the level of security and justice structures, enough to dismantle the thesis that the problems of drug trafficking or crime in general can be attributed to citizens of a particular country.

South Africa has the capacity, and it could very well have all – or at least a large part – of the unwanted foreigners leave without resorting to this shamelessness.

This wave of xenophobia represents a serious setback to the regional integration project at the level of SADC and to all cooperation and development plans in Africa, including the long-awaited Free Trade Area, of which ironically South Africa is the largest beneficiary.

It also affects South Africa’s international prestige, strangely enough at a time when the country is the target of a visceral campaign of discredit, with the deliberate distortion of its race relations.

The crisis undermines the confidence of other African countries in South Africa, making it more difficult to build the partnerships that the country, like any other, needs for its development agenda.

In their moments of self-gratification, the mentors of this movement proclaim that South Africa does not need these partnerships, and that living without them is a lesser evil compared to what they consider the “invasion” of the country by foreigners. But the reality is that with 30% of intra-African trade being dominated by South Africa’s exports, generating between $40 and $45 billion annually (about 5% of GDP), to say that South Africa doesn’t need the rest of Africa is an exercise in self-deception, an alternative reality that resides only in the imagination of its purveyors.